BATTLE LORD hits the bookshelves today

Today, I’m delighted to announce that BATTLE LORD is published. It’s the second volume in the WULFBURY CHRONICLES, my saga of 1066 and the Norman Conquest of England. This will need to be a quick blogpost today because there is so much to do, and so after a swift recap on the story so far, I’ll hit you with all the main characters in the series as it currently stands.

As a quick footnote to today’s intro, I apologise if anyone has tuned in to this blog today looking for the latest installment in Thrillers, Chillers. Alas, as I mentioned last autumn, those detailed book reviews were taking up an awful lot of time. Time that could be more valuably spent writing new material of my own, so from the start of this year, I’ve discontinued Thrillers, Chillers. That does not mean that I won’t be mentioning new titles I’ve enjoyed now and then, but any reviews that do make this column from now on will be short, sharp and succinct.

Now we roll back the centuries until a whole millennium has passed, and face the oncoming storm of ...

The Norman Conquest

I’m obviously not going to say too much today about the synopsis of BATTLE LORD, for fear of giving away spoilers before you’ve already read it. But suffice to say that it picks up where USURPER left off. Those who’ve read USURPER will already know that Duke William the Bastard’s conquest of England is already in full swing. The battle of Hastings has been fought and lost, and the flower of the English thegnhood lies slaughtered on Senlac Ridge. 

But Duke William hasn’t captured the kingdom yet. Among his prisoners is Cerdic Aelfricsson, 17-year-old heir to the earldom of Ripon, whose ancestral home lies far to the north but is already occupied by a surviving remnant of the great Viking army of Harald Hardraada, which arrived in England a couple of weeks before the Normans and was destroyed by the ill-fated King Harold Godwinson at the battle of Stamford Bridge. Cerdic’s future looks bleak. The Normans are harsh masters, and have only spared him thanks to his promise that his title and lands can be theirs if they will allow him to show them the way. If nothing else though, Cerdic has found a kindred spirit in Yvette, a pretty Norman maiden who is also a hostage, as her father, Count Rodric d’Hiemois is an avowed enemy of Duke William.

For those who still need persuading, here is a breakdown of the key characters in the series so far:

Cerdic Aelfricsson: The main protagonist in both USURPER and BATTLE LORD. Cerdic, as second son to Earl Rothgar of Ripon, is heir to nothing. In fact, he is reluctantly training for the priesthood when the Viking horde of Harald the Hardraada lands on the Northumbrian coast, and his entire prospective future is engulfed in a whirlwind of fire and destruction ...

Eadora: The ‘Flower of Swaledale’. A beautiful Saxon village girl, yearned for by Cerdic, but as she’s the unofficial lover of his older brother, Unferth, he can only yearn from afar. As a ceorl, her relationship with the lord of the manor’s eldest son is obviously fraught with difficulty, though all that will pale to insignificance when Harald the Hardraada’s Vikings invade the Northumbrian shore …

Rothgar Aelfricsson, the Earl of Ripon: A great Saxon lord, respected across Northumbria for his warrior past but also for his reputation as a man of wisdom and justice. He and his younger son, Cerdic, are at odds over Rothgar’s decision to send the lad to the Church, but before that happens, the autumn of 1066 explodes with a war on two fronts, Harald the Hardraada’s Viking invasion of England in the north, and William of Normandy’s invasion in the south. As one of the key leaders of his people, Rothgar is caught in the middle …

Aethelric: Earl Rothgar’s chaplain and Cerdic’s teacher and mentor, a gentle Saxon priest who is also hugely well-educated. Much of this he has imparted to Cerdic at an early age, ensuring the lad is not just literate and numerate but multi-lingual. He also has a broader political acumen than most of those in his calling, and shares deeply in Earl Rothgar’s concern that the England they’ve known and loved for so long is about to change dramatically for the worse.

Oswalda: The Saxon village woman who, as midwife and wetnurse, helped raise Cerdic after his own mother died while bringing him into the world. As such, her status has been raised by Earl Rothgar and she and her husband live on their own small farm. She remains a key figure in Cerdic’s life and is probably the person he loves more than any other. Unfortunately, her homestead lies in the direct path of the invading Vikings.

Unferth: Cerdic’s older brother. A warrior through and through, and something of an arrogant, roistering rake. However, he takes his future inheritance seriously, and when the chaos erupts in the autumn of 1066, is more than willing to ride with his father to face the enemy in the field. His relationship with Cerdic is stormy, though deep down the older lad respects Cerdic’s courage and intelligence and feels that he is wasted being sent to the Church.

Brithnoth: An older village priest often at odds with Aethelric because he tolerates and even encourages some of the pagan traditions still lurking around the edges of Anglo-Saxon society in 1066. His position is based on a conviction that ordinary folk can’t be expected to surrender everything in life that once gave them pleasure. Aethelric considers this muddled thinking, and even dangerous to the Christian faith, but it will make no difference either way when the Vikings arrive, as they are respecters of no one’s beliefs save their own.

Aethelbere: The marshal of Earl Rothgar’s household, whose presence on the battlefield can inspire confidence in even the weakest of men. A senior housecarl with much experience, Aethelbere is devotedly loyal to his master and firmly in control of the earl’s military resources. But like his master, he knows that any man who fights in each and every situation will eventually meet a sword quicker than his own, and he can’t help wondering if that time is nigh.

Haco: Eadora’s older brother. A scheming, untrustworthy rogue, but also a natural opportunist who unashamedly sees Unferth’s relationship with his sister as a chance to make good, and when this backfires, looks further afield to find allies against those he believes have taken advantage of his family. As a ceorl, he isn’t much of an opponent in himself, but he remains a key antagonist in both novels.

Thegn Redwald: The commander of Unferth’s small troop of housecarls, and a widely travelled warrior, who, though he knows, respects and fears the Vikings, is far more worried by the prospect of fighting the Normans. Held captive by them for several months, he has seen the effectiveness of Norman knights in battle, particularly how much their superior training, weaponry and armour is changing the face of warfare in these violent closing days of the Dark Ages.

Harald ‘the Hardraada’: One of the most legendary of all Viking leaders. A highly successful warrior and adventurer, but famous also for his cruelty and barbarism. Rightly known across Scandinavia as ‘the Thunderbolt of the North’. In 1066, he comes to Northumbria, intent on claiming the English throne, in company with a huge Viking army, all the chieftains of which he has promised rich rewards, which they must claim for themselves as they maraud through the shires of this wealthy land.

Wulfgar Ragnarsson: One of the Hardraada’s deputy commanders, and a fearsome Viking warrior in his own right. His origins are shrouded in mystery, but he controls his own small army within the greater army of his master and has several key aims during the invasion of England. First and foremost is the recapture of those lands he considers ancestrally his, the centrepiece of which is Wulfbury, the fortified capital of Earl Rothgar of Ripon.

Sigfurth Blood-Hair: Wulfgar Ragnarsson’s most savage enforcer. Lethal in combat, and a cold-blooded killer and torturer of his master’s enemies, whatever their status. When Blood-Hair and his murderous accomplices are unleashed in Earl Rothgar’s verdant domain of Swaledale, the vast majority of whose male population has been drawn away to fight the Hardraada, he is literally a wolf in the fold.

Harold Godwinson: One of the most famous but shortest-ruling kings in England’s history. Earl of Wessex beforehand, and another fearless commander of men, King Harold, alas, will finally overface himself when tackling the Viking horde of Harald the Hardraada, and a couple of weeks later, marching south to take on the entire invasion force of Duke William of Normandy.

William the Bastard: The infamous Duke of Normandy who will later be nicknamed ‘William the Conqueror’, the founder of a new medieval dynasty in what was previously Dark Age England. A skilled and ruthless warrior, who has outfought numerically superior enemies all his life. When this rapacious overlord sets his sights on something, there is no stopping him. His latest goal, of course, is the capture of England, and he’ll kill and maim as many of its occupants as he needs to, to bring it under his yoke.

Yvette d’Hiemois: A young Norman woman of fine breeding and intellect, but a valuable hostage to Duke William. Yvette is the only child and heiress to Count Rodric of Hiemois, a great Norman baron currently at odds with the Duke and therefore living in exile. Inevitably, she forms an alliance with fellow captive, Cerdic, which soon blossoms into romance. As the war unravels into unimaginable horror, Yvette withdraws into herself, dreaming of better things, and increasingly fearful that the vengeance-fuelled Cerdic will continue this fight until everyone and everything is annihilated.

Bishop Odo of Bayeux: Duke William’s brother and foremost deputy, and a grotesque, corrupt beast of a man, who cares nothing for his religious calling, seeking only to empower and enrich himself, and of course to debauch every female who falls into his grasp. So calculating is this odious creature that even Duke William is wary of him, though for the time being at least considers him a necessary device by which to dominate and terrorise his new subjects.

Count Cynric of Tancarville: Another of the great Norman lords who triumphs at the battle of Hastings, and a cold, aloof figure, who is no less greedy and ambitious than the majority of his jackal-like comrades, but who isn’t cruel for cruelty’s sake, who thinks deeply and plans ahead. An intriguer, who places little trust in Duke William and is prepared to make alliances with the most unexpected parties to achieve his aims.

Turold de Bardouville: Perhaps the greatest of the Norman knights, and Count Cynric’s personal champion. A ferocious opponent but another who takes no pleasure in killing without purpose and considers the terrorising of peasant folk, in particular women and children, beneath him. Half-English by birth, he is nevertheless entirely Norman in his outlook, but over time he comes to respect Cerdic’s courage and intelligence, and gradually forms an unlikely friendship with the lad, teaching him how to fight with a state-of-the-art new weapon, the Norman longsword.

Joubert fitzOslac: Count Cyrnic’s second son, and a man who has come to England not just to prove himself in battle, but to win the kind of wealth and position he could only dream about back home in Normandy. As such, he is brutal and sadistic. He thinks nothing of inflicting pain and terror if it will advance his position and is hated and feared even by many on his own side.

Father Jerome: Count Cynric’s personal chaplain, and one of a whole swarm of Norman clergymen who have accompanied the invasion of England, lusting for gold, power and position. Formerly a religious idealist, Jerome genuinely though he would come here to convert sinners, and then reap his just reward. Instead, the ongoing horror of war, slaughter and pillage preys on his mind, unhinging him to a horrible degree.

Roland Casterborus: Count Cynric’s seneschal, and a skilled and honourable knight. He is steadfast to his Norman master, but his adherence to the new code of chivalry gnaws at his conscience, especially when he learns that the native English are not the degenerate apostates he was led to expect but practising fellow Christians. He also despises the rodent-like mercenaries who have accompanied the invasion and sees most of Duke William’s atrocities as cruel and unnecessary.

(Nearly all the images that I've used in today’s column were found floating around on the internet. With the exceptions of the one at the top, none were produced specifically to promote or illustrate the events or personalities in either of the novels, USURPER and BATTLE LORD. Nor were they tagged with the original creator’s names. If anyone has a problem with me using these images, please let me know and I will happily apply any credit where it is due, or, if required, take the image down).